The Multilingual Mind: Issues Discussed By, For, and about People Living with Many Languages

ISBN-13: 9780897899192 / Angielski / Miękka / 2003 / 312 str.

Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa; Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa

Opis

The bulk of the world's population is multilingual, and one in seven Americans speak a language other than English at home. Multilinguals crave answers to question both basic and profound, questions relating to linguistic identity, schools, multiliteracy, how languages are actually learned, and why there are so many variations on individual success. Tokuhama-Espinosa combines solid research, humor, and real-life examples into 21 informative and entertaining essays about people who experience the world with multiple languages.

This book tackles common misconceptions about polyglots (too many languages can cause brain overload, some languages are easier to learn than others, an adult cannot learn a foreign language as fast as a child, etc.)

Other topics include:

Curriculum choice

Teaching languages using the multiple intelligences

How different education systems can influence multilingual skills

Language's relationship to mental tasks such as music and math

Languages from the womb and bilingualism from birth

The growth of the trilingual family

The societal situation of third culture kids (those growing outside of their parents' native country)

A special case for foreign language development

The emerging cross-area study of multilingualism and cosmopolitanism

Questions of linguistic identity

Challenges to normal foreign language learning, such as dyslexia, Downs Syndrome, and deafness"